Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers



J. F. ARP

Aug. 14, 1945.

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FRESHLY COATED CONTAINERS Filed May 4, 1943 Aug 14, 1945. J, F EA'RP 2,382,619

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FRESHLYy COATED CONTAINERS Fiied May 4, 1945 4 sheets-sheet 2 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FRESHLY COATED CONTAINERS Filed May 4, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Simula/1J J. F. EARP Aug. 14, 1945.

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FRESHLY COATED CONTAINERS Filed May 4, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 @www W y Patented Aug. 14, 1945 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FRESHLY COATED CONTAINERS .lames F. Earp, Detroit, Mich., assigner to The American Paper Bottle Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 4, 1943, Serial No. 485,639

9 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for cooling freshly coated containers and particularly to apparatus of this general type primarily designed and intended to be used to rapidly chill and solidify molten coatings which have been applied to the exterior and interior surfaces of newly formed empty paper containers of the type disclosed and claimed in the patent to Henry T. Scott, No. 2,- 047,891, dated July 14, 1936.

Containers of the type disclosed in the Scott patent are preferably formed upon automatically operating machines which receive collapsed tubular blanks, in pack formation, successively square out and close the bottoms of blanks removed singly from the pack, exteriorly and interiorly coat each container while in this partially completed condition, and thereafter eilect the charging and sealing thereof. The coating is preferably molten when applied and a paramn or pai-ailincontaining substance is found to be suitable, the partially completed containers being immersed in a bath of such substance and thereafter drained and the coating allowed to solidify. Means to artificially cool or chill the freshly applied coating is preferably included as an element of the machine, principally for the purpose of expediting this cooling operation and reducing the time required to effect solidiflcation, so that the successive freshly coated containers can be more promptly passed on to the further mechanisms to which they are to be presented. Without such chilling apparatus the productive speed of the entire machine would be considerably reduced.

The cooling or chilling apparatus contemplated by the present invention comprises a cooling chamber having ports for the introduction and egress of containers, and means for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading point without the chamber, passing these containers into and through the chamber, where they are subjected to the action of cooling media such as chilled Water and artificially cooled and rapidly circulating air currents, and thereafter removing the chilled containers from the chamber and positioning them for discharge into a chute or the like by means of which they are transferred to a further mechanism. The means for thus transporting the freshly coated containers comprises a conveyor of novel type, simple in construction, effective in operation, inexpensive to originally construct and maintain, andvwhich has the further capacity, which is a feature of substantial advantage, to bend or flex around a turning point either in a clockwise direction, or in a counterclockwise direction, with equal facility, so that the containers may be moved along a serpentine path within the cooling chamber to conserve space.

Generally speaking, this conveyor comprises an endless chain and a plurality of sprocket elements which support and guide the chain in its movements along a iixed closed path. The links of the chain comprise container encircling frames and are pivotally connected together. the sprockets being designed and constructed to engage the pivotal connections between the individual links of the chain without contacting or interfering in any y 4manner with the containers being advanced.

With a construction such as that briefly described it is essential to provide a container bottom-supporting slide or the like underlying the path'of movement of the chain and the function of which is to slidably support the containers as they are advanced by the conveyor until the point of discharge is reached, where the containers are allowed to drop through the encircling frames or links.

In the accompanying drawings a preferred form of the invention is disclosed by way of example, the conveying means having been designed to receive and advance tubular containers of square cross section. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that, in adapting the invention to the 'advancement of containers of varying shapes and types, the` details of construction of the several elements of the invention may be considerably varied without departure therefrom.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken through the cooling chamber of the cooling apparatus contemplated, just above the conveyor, the conveyor details being shown in plan;

Figure 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 2a is a section on line 2a 2a of Figure 2;

Figure 3 is a View of the cooling chamber from the left (Figure 1) portion of the end wall having been broken away to disclose the interior thereof;

Figure 4 is a plane view showing a short section of the conveyor chain in a somewhat enlarged scale;

Figure 5 isa section on line 5 5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a section on line 6 8 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a section through an alternative form of pivotal connection between two container-encircling links of the chain;

Figure 8 is a section on line 8 8 of Figure 1; and

Figure 9 is a section on line 9 9 of Figurel.

The cooling chamber of the apparatus is generally indicated by the numeral l0 and is shown to have an inlet port and an outlet port I2 through which ports, respectively, freshly coated containers to be cooled may be introduced and containers the coatings of which have been chilled and solidified may be withdrawn. It will be understood that the design of the cooling chamber may be widely varied to suit circumstances. Within the housing I and below the conveyor is located an air circulating fan I3 with its connected driving motor I4, likewise an air cooling or chilling means generally indicated at I5. It is the function of the fan I3 to circulate air within the housing Ill in such manner that it passes through the chilling device l5 and then upwardly and around and over the containers which are being advanced by the conveyor, the air currents then passing downwardly to and through the cooling device I5, there being a continuous air circulation within the housing I0 of a current of air of low temperature, some relatively small portion of the current escaping through the housing inlet and outlet ports and I2, respectively, and the portion thus escaping being replenished through these same ports.

The`conveyor is generally indicated at c and from Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings it can be readily perceived that this conveyor is disposed in a horizontal plane positioned above the fan and the cooling device. A few of the containers of a series of containers being advanced by the conveyor are indicated at C, C', C2, C3, C4, C5, C8, C', C, C9, C10, C11, C12, C111, and C14, these containers being fabricated of paper, tubular in form and square in cross section, the closed bottom of each being lowermost and the open top uppermost.

The conveyor chain comprises a series of pivotally connected links which in reality comprise rectangular frames. Each link or frame includes an upper member 20 and a similar lower member 2 I, these members being formed as hollow squares which register vertically with one another. Diametrically opposed corners of the upper and low*- er members 20 and 2| of each link or frame are pivotally connected to the adjacent corners of adjacent frames, respectively, the pivotal connecting means being most clearly illustrated in Figure 5. Each such connection comprises a pivot 22, vertically disposed, the lower end of which is secured to the corner of the lower mem-ber 2| in any suitable manner, and the upper end of which passes through an aperture formed in the upper member 20, the end or. ends of a locking pin 23 projecting from an aperture formed in the upper end of pivot 22 serving to prevent upward movement of member 20 relatively to member 2|. Encircling pivot 22 is a spacing sleeve 24 to prevent members 20and 2| from approaching each other. Both the pivot 22 and the spacing sleeve 24 pass through registering circular apertures formed in the corners of the members 20 and 2| of the next adjacent link or frame and a spacing sleeve 25 maintains this pair of members properly spaced apart. It will be perceived that the several links or frames are thus pivotally connected together at their corners and may be readily flexed in either direction about the pivotal axes of the several pins 22.

The means for supporting the conveyor includes a plurality of sprocket members, indicatedat S, S', S, S3, S4, and S5 in the drawings.

Sprocket S2 is driven while the remaining sprockets are idler sprockets, positioned at pointsy where the conveyor changes direction of movement. Each sprocket comprises a hub 30 rotatably mounted upon a vertically extending pin 3|,

the several pins 3| being suitably supported upon stationary portions of the frame of the apparatus, arms 32 radiating from the hub 30 and each of these arms having .at its outer end a chain pivotengaging part 33. Each pivot-engaging part 33 is substantially coextensive in height with the spacing sleeves 25 and the outwardly facing socket formed in each such part 33 is circularly curved in horizontal section to receive with a fairly snug fit the cylindrical outer surface' of sleeve 25. The upper horizontal end surface of each pivot-engaging part 33 of the sprocket is adapted to project under and engage the undersurface of the lower of the two upper members 20 of adjacent links or frames, in the vicinity of the sleeve 24 of the pivot means connecting those links, the weight of the chain being communicated through these surfaces of contact to the portions 33 oi' the several sprockets. 'I'he angle between each two radiating arms 32 of each sprocket is such, and the distance between the axis of rotation of the sprocket and the pivot-engaging parts 33 thereof is such that, as the sprockets rotate in the same direction during the operation of the conveyor, each successive pivot-engaging part 33 will receive the pivot assembly which connects two frames or links.

Engagement between each part 33 and such pivot assembly is continued until the chain straightens out upon a further reach whereupon disengagement occurs and the chain continues. unsupported, to the next sprocket. The chain is relatively stiff vertically although freely flexible i horizontally about the several pivotal connections between the links or frames. Inasmuch as it can freely flex in either direction it may turn about a sprocket in a clockwise direction at one point and about a succeeding sprocket in a counterclockwise direction at another point, a feature of great convenience. Each frame is adapted to receive a container dropped into it from above and these containers are loosely received and held within the respective frames while the conveyor advances. A chute down which containers may be dropped into the several successive frames comprising the chain is indicated at 35 in the drawings and the container C is shown'in the position which each successive Ycontainer occupies just as it has been delivered to the conveyor by the chute. A portion of this chute, indicated at 35a in Figure 2a, is mounted for swinging movement about a vertical axis, and will be displaced to its dotted line position (Figure 2a) after a container has been guided into position within a container encircling link of the chain, so as not to interfere with such container when the conveyor moves. Any suitable means may be employed to effect the operation of the conveyor in timed relationship to the movements of the conveyor chain.

The bottom of this container rests upon the trackway 38 of the conveyor, this trackway being horizontally disposed and directly underlying that portion of the conveyor chain which is in the vicinity of the sprockets Sz and S3. The surfaces of a container at this point are covered with a coating of 'hot paraflln and it is desirable to maintain the bottom of the container heated for a period of time while it is advanced, in order to give the paraffin which drains downwardly from its inner wall surfaces opportunity to now freely over the upper surface of the bottom so as to evenly distribute itself over such surface and to thereby more effectively coat the container bottom. For that reason the portion of the trackway 36 which extends from the chute 35 to the end wall 3l is heated, a steam chamber which underlies the trackway being indicated at 38 in Figures 2 and 9. As each container reaches the end of heated section 36 of the trackway it passes over the horizontally turned upped end or lip 31' of end Wall 3l and drops into an elongated pan 40 which directly underlies the chain and extends from the vicinity of the end wall 31 of trackway 36 to the vicinity of sprocket S5, the terminal end wall of the liquid pan being indicated at 4|. The containers as they are advanced by the conveyor will either float upon the water in pan 40 or will rest upon the supporting rails 42 mounted on the bottom of the pan. As the several containers approach the end 4| of the pan they meet upwardly inclined members 43 and -move forwardly over the end Wall 4| of the pan onto parallel rails 44 which underlie the curved portion ofthe chain passing around sprocket S and the following straight reach extending to the vicinity of the sprocket S, where they are discharged.

As the container bottoms disengage the supporting rails 44, which occurs when each reaches the position indicated at Cu in Figures 1 and 3, it is free to fall and a chute 45 positioned to receive the falling container serves to guide it to a further conveyor or a mechanism for acting upon the same. Chilled water may be introduced into the pan dil at one end and removed from the pan at the other, the chilled water being preferably introduced at the end adjacent the heated trackway 35, where the containers are warmest and the coating substance is in most highly heated and fluid condition. That portion of the conveyor which extends from the sprocket S to the sprocket S3 is merely the return portion, being unloaded.

It will be observed from an inspection of the drawings, and more particularly from an inspection of Figures 4 and 5, that both upper and lower members of each frame or link include a number of downturned integral tongues, the tongues of member Eil being indicated at 2B and those of member 2l at 2l'. These downturned integral tongues serve as guides, acting, -by reason of their downward and inward inclinations, to direct any downwardly moving container, such as a container falling through the chute and into one of the frames at the point C, toward the center of the recess provided in the frame for its reception. The points of certain of these tongues 2Q' will contact with the freshly coated surfaces of two side wall panels of the container which the frame encircles when the forward movement of the chain is resumed. As will be readily apparent from an inspection of Figure 4, the container C is in the position to which it will naturally move after it falls through the chute 35 whereas the container C occupies the position, with respect to its encircling link or frame, which it will assume after it has been advanced by the conveyor in the direction of the arrow R in Figure 4, the two rearwardly facing side wall surfaces of the container each being engaged at four spaced points, i. e., the points of two downturned tongues 25 and two downturned tongues 2i'. Thereafter and so long as the container is advanced by the conveyor it is in contact with these eight points, and these eight points only, thus assuring that the coating material upon the rear panels, of the container may harden or set in a normal manner, and that the containers cannot adhere to the conveyor links. By reason of the downward and'inward inclination of tongues 20' and 2| likewise, the container may drop at the point of discharge, from within its encircling link, without being scratched or retarded in any way.

The conveyor must, of course, be intermittently advanced in order that containers may be most conveniently placed in it at one point and allowed to fall at a second point. Any suitable means for advancing the conveyor may be employed, but `I prefer kto use an indexing mechanism, generally indicated at M, which takes power from a constantly rotating shaft 50 and utilizes it to effect intermittent rotation of the vertical shaft 5|, through equal angular distances. Fixed on the upper end of shaft 5| is a sprocket 52, and sprocket 52 is operatively connected to a sprocket 53 mounted on the lower end of pin 3| to which the hub 30 of sprocket S2 is fixed. Connecting sprockets 52 and 53 is a link or chain 54. The sprocket S2, which is driven by this means, is the sole driving sprocket, the others being idlers, but within the import of the invention any other suitable driving means may beemployed.

The modified form of pivotal connection bef'- tween links of the conveyor chain which -is illustrated in Figure 7 of the drawings, is similar to that form shown in Figure 5 save in that the outer spacer 25a, instead of being continuous from end to end, is divided into ve short; sections. These -sections can fturn relatively to one another about the axis of the pivot and in actual use may have such relative turning movement, this having a tendency .to lessen any possible frictional force opposing the entry of each pivot means of the chain into the receiving sockets of the sprockets.

Having Ithus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers through a coolingchamber comprising, in combination, a conveyor for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading poin-t and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including a series of container encircling frames pivotally connected ltogether to form a continuous chain arranged for movement in a horizontal plane, each frame being adapted to freely receive a tubular container dropped into the same from above at the loading point and to permit the container rto freely drop downwardly .therethrough at the point of discharge, sprocket devices for supporting the chain and guiding the same along a fixed continuous path without contacting containers being advanced thereby, and means for supporting containers from below, while such containers are being advanced by the chain, until the point of discharge is reached.

2. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers through a cooling chamber comprising, in combination, a conveyorfor receiving freshly coated containers at a loading station and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including an elongated tortuous container base supporting means, an endless chain disposed in a. horizontal plane overlying said container base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself, said chain including a plurality of container encircling frames or links pivotally connected together, the chain being vertically self-supporting between sprockets while freely flexible horizontally in either direction.

3. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated con- Atainers through a cooling chamber comprising,

in combination, a conveyor for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading station and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including an elongated tortuous container base supporting means, an endless chain overlying said container base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself, said ing an elongated tortuous container base sup? porting means, an endless chain overlying said' container base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself, said chain including a plurality of container encircling frames or links pivotally connected together, each link of the chain comprising two vertically spaced substantially rectangular members, the corners of the upper and lower members of each link being pivoted, respectively, to the corners of the upper and lower members of adjacent links.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 in which the pivot means connecting the links are vertically elongated so as to be readily engageable by the pivot engaging means of the sprockets.

6. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers through a cooling chamber comprising, in combination, a conveyor for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading station and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including an elongated tortuous container base supporting means, an endless chain overlying said container base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself,

said chain including a plurality of container encircling i'rames or links pivotally connected t0- gether, the pivot means connecting the frames also comprising sprocket engaging parts and the v sprocket being deeply cut away intermediate such parts so that no portion thereof overlaps the container receiving recesses of links passing the sprocket.

7. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers through Aa cooling chamber comprising, in combination, a. conveyor for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading station and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including an elongated tortuous container base supporting means, an endless chain overlying said container base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself, said chain including a plurality oi container encircling frames or links pivotally connected together, each container encircling link having a plurality of downwardly and inwardly projecting tongues the ends of which are adapted to engage the wall surfaces of containers to be advanced.

8. Apparatus for conveying freshly coated containers through a cooling chamber comprising, in combination, a conveyor for receiving freshly coated containers at a loading station and advancing them through the cooling chamber to a point of discharge, said conveyor including an elongated tortuous container base supporting means, an endless chain overlying said container i base supporting means, and a plurality of sprockets engaging and supporting the chain for intermittent movement longitudinally of itself, said chain including a plurality of container encircling frames or links pivotally connected together each link being connected to the preceding link by a single pivot means which also has a sprocket engaging part, the sprockets having angularly spaced seats for receiving said pivots and being deeply cut away intermediate said seats so that a container encircled by said link will not engage the sprocket.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8 in which the said sprocket engaging part is a friction reducing part including a plurality of rela tively rotatable sections.

JAMES F. EARP. 

